Robert F. Vaughan
Robert F. Vaughan, 51, of Frankfort, Illinois, had worked as an officer with the Cook County Sheriff's Department, and his wife and two children survive him, according to a wrongful death suit filed by his estate. He died on March 14, 2022, while held at the Will County Jail in Joliet, and the Will County Sheriff's Office said he was found unresponsive in his cell and had died by suicide, using a bedsheet and a phone booth; he was pronounced dead at a hospital. The coroner had not given an official cause when the reports were published, and the Will/Grundy Major Crimes Task Force was investigating. The estate's suit argues that jail staff and healthcare workers did not account for his mental illness and threats of self-harm, and that a lights-out rule left people held there unmonitored. The defendants dispute responsibility for his death.
Cause of death, as reported: Died by suicide (disputed; neglect alleged). The sheriff's office says Vaughan appears to have taken his own life, but the coroner has not given an official cause; his estate's wrongful death suit says jail staff and healthcare workers did not account for his mental illness and threats of self-harm, and that a lights-out rule left detainees unmonitored.
Reported by: Will County Sheriff's Office (the agency that held him); his estate's wrongful death lawsuit (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: His estate filed a wrongful death lawsuit over his death at the Will County Jail, and the sources report no settlement or award amount.